Hold My Hand
by GleeJunkie007
Summary: Prequel to "It's Okay To Be Afraid" Trilogy. Nick is still trying to get his husband, Jeff, over his phobia. But after an incident at school, Nick has to deal with helping his son, Liam, with his newfound fear.
1. Chapter 1

Nick's POV

I kissed my husband Jeff on the cheek once he joined me in the kitchen. I was making some eggs for breakfast. "Did you wake, Liam?" I asked him and he nodded. He probably will be down soon enough. Liam was our son which we adopted when he was three—he's eight now and the time has flown by.

By the time I had gotten breakfast on the table, Liam joined as at the table. And I sat down and started eating with everyone—it was pretty quiet for the most part. It almost always is with Jeff reading his newspaper and Liam isn't much of a morning person. He has more to say once he gets home.

I looked at the time and I probably should start the car and get Liam to school. "Liam, we better go. Go get your stuff." I said and Liam got up to go get his backpack.

"Okay, I'm ready." Liam said when he came back a minute later with his backpack on.

"Oh, before I forget, I'm going to pick you up from school early. You have a dentist appointment today." I reminded him. It's been on the calendar for about a week, but I probably should remind him; by now it's most likely slipped his mind.

"Okay." Liam said and I glanced at my husband, who seemed a little uneasy at the mention of the word. I roll my eyes mentally—some things might never change. One thing for sure was that I am happy that he wouldn't have to worry about Liam being afraid; he didn't seem to have the phobia like his daddy did.

* * *

Liam's POV

I sat with Charlie at lunch and we talked about our weekends. Then he saw the note that was for my teacher—I forgot to give that to her earlier—about me leaving early and took it out of my bag.

"What's this for?" Charlie asked.

"It's note."

"What's it for?"

"I have to leave early." I told him.

"Why?"

"I have to go to the dentist." I told him and he nodded—we probably would have moved on and talked about something better if it wasn't for Alex.

"Good luck." Alex said and then both Charlie and I looked at him—that was always how we got sucked into listening to him.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, you just better hope he doesn't use—you don't want to know." Alex said and I rolled my eyes—he is probably making something up like he does usually.

"You probably haven't come up with something fake to scare him with yet." Charlie commented and I laughed a little; that was pretty good.

"Just saying, Liam—you better pray he doesn't need to use that drill on you." Alex said and I rolled my eyes—I thought he had to be making that. Why would building tools be in the dentist's office?

"Right, you're just saying that to try and scare me." I replied.

"You don't believe me?" Alex questioned. "Fine, don't come crying to me when they're drilling into your teeth and your screaming for them to stop, but they don't. Good luck, Liam." He said and then left the table, I turned to Charlie, wondering why he thought I would believe that.

"Can you believe that?" I asked Charlie.

"I don't think he was lying." Charlie said—wait what? Did Charlie actually believe him?

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, there was no way he was serious.

"Didn't our parents always tell us to brush our teeth or else the dentist would have to drill our teeth or something like that?" He asked—I don't remember ever having either of my dads say anything like that to me.

"Mine never did." I told him.

"Well mine did—I don't know—I'm sure you'll be fine. Don't let Alex get to you." Charlie told me and I nodded. Right, he is just messing with me. My dad's one too and I doubt he'd do that to me, so why would anyone else?

* * *

Later that day we were having crafts—well it was different. She took us to where others have wood shop and we were making bird houses—we just glued the pieces she had ready for us and then decorated them for us. I don't think she would let us use saws and that other stuff yet.

"You're leaving after this class right?" Charlie asked me, but I didn't answer. I was still think about what Alex said—I mean what if he was right? I mean Charlie believes and why would his parents lie to him? And I notice my daddy gets nervous whenever my dad talks about his job—why would he be? "Liam?" He said then getting my attention.

"Sorry—yeah, I do."

"You worrying about what Alex said?" Charlie asked and I sighed—I hated myself for it, but there were some things that said it was true.

"What if he's right?"

"Even if he is—which he never is—you shouldn't worry about it. I mean your dad's one too right?" He asked and I nodded. I needed to listen to Charlie.

"Hey Liam…" I turned to see Alex with one hand behind his back. He then showed that he had one of those drills—what—? "…OPEN WIDE!" He yelled and turned it on.

I screamed—I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe and I was shaking and crying. I shuffled back away from him as our teacher and went over to corner. Put my head into between my knees and couldn't stop panicking.

* * *

 **For my lovely readers of this series who wanted a Prequel :) I had many ideas…and I finally settled on one. And this is how wasted some time while I'm sick.**

 **Anyways, both Liam and Charlie are in 8 in this. This is before Liam (and later, Charlie) moved so yeah, they'd both be in this. And this is before Charlie and Liam had that experience which sets up most of the series. :)**

 **Don't forget to review.**


	2. Chapter 2

Nick's POV

As I was driving to pick Liam up from school, I had gotten call from the school saying there was an incident and they thought it would be best if Liam was taken out of school a little earlier. I got there and his teacher brought me into her private office.

"Can you to tell me what happened?" I asked as we walked in. I saw Liam was on her couch, curled up into a ball, and I was pretty sure I could hear him sobbing.

"Well I was having the kids make crafts and I got distracted helping this one student, I didn't see one of my other students, Alex, pick up one of the drills." She started off telling me and I sighed. Before she could even tell me the rest, I guess that kid thought it'd be funny to scare him a bit. "I don't think he meant any harm, he probably was just playing, but Liam got pretty shaken up by it."

It broke my heart to see him like this. I could see him visibly shaking and I could hear him crying. "I'm so sorry this happened." I nodded, it wasn't her fault and I don't know why this kid thought it would be a good idea. I have seen it countless times in my office that kids are scared after a classmate or siblings scares them with stories, or even stunts like this. He would never understand why people do this; it only makes the job harder for the parents and them.

"Thank you." I said and she left me alone with Liam in the room. I walked over and sat next to him and started rubbing his back. He looked up at me and I could see his eyes were red from crying and he was still shaking. "Hey, come here." I said and pulled him into a hug and he continued to cry a bit. "You're okay, dad's here now."

"I-I-I don't wanna g-go dad." He cried—I had a feeling that after that he wasn't going to want to go to that appointment. "I wanna go home."

I continued to rub his back and nodded—It could wait another time. After what just happened, I'm sure it isn't the best time.

"It's okay, shhh, I'll take you home, okay?" I said and he nodded. "I'll get your stuff." I said and went out to his teacher to get the rest of his stuff. Then I felt someone pull on my leg, I looked and saw it was his friend Charlie.

"Is he okay?" He asked.

"He'll be okay, don't worry." I told him.

"Tell him, I hope he feels better." He said and walked away. I grabbed his stuff and then went to get Liam and we left.

* * *

Once we got home, I brought Liam had fallen asleep, probably exhausted from what happened. I put him in his room to rest and decided to call Jeff.

"Hey, what's up?" Jeff asked when he picked up the phone. "Is the appointment over already?"

"There was an incident at school today, so I decided it was best to skip it." Nick told him and then he explained to Jeff what happened—at least as much as he got from the teacher. "I don't know what to do, Jeff. That kid really did a number on him—I think he wanted to run away from me at first."

"Geez—do you want me to come home?"

"No you don't—"

"Screw it, I'm coming home. I think our son needs both his dads right now." Jeff said and I smiled, I guess it wasn't a bad thing for him to come home early as well. It took him about 15 minutes and then he was home.

"So where is he?"

"In his room." I told Jeff. "I fell asleep in the car, I think he tired himself out."

"Poor thing." Jeff said and then my phone rang and I went into the kitchen to take it.

"This is Nick." I said when I picked up. "What's going on?" It was one of the other guys from the office, I wondered why they were calling me since I had taken the rest of the day off. "Hold on." I said as Jeff walked into the kitchen.

"Are you needed in your office, Dr. Duval?" Jeff asked me and I grinned, yes I was, but I couldn't leave. Not after what just happened with Liam, I couldn't leave him. "You go, I'll stay here with Liam, alright?"

"You sure?" I asked and he nodded. I then went back on the phone. "Okay, I'll be there in like twenty minutes." I told him and then hung up the phone. "Are you sure, you'll be okay?"

"Nick, we'll be fine. Go!" He said and with that I was out the door.

* * *

Jeff's POV

After Nick left I went up to Liam's room and peeked in. He was still asleep—well his back was turned, so I couldn't tell for sure. I walked in as quietly as I could, but I guess not as quiet as I thought because he then turned over—he was awake.

"Hey buddy." I said as I walked over to him and sat on the bed next to him.

"Daddy, you're home?" Liam asked me and I smiled. "Where's dad?"

"He had to go back to work—I guess they needed some help." I told him. "So I heard about what happened at school today." I then said and I saw—oh my, it was like the look I got whenever Nick mentioned that stuff. "You wanna talk about it?" I asked—but I regretted it, I shouldn't have asked, he probably won't want to talk about it.

He shook his head. "It's okay, you don't have to." I pulled him into a hug and I felt him relax.

"Don't let him take me." Liam whispered and a part of me didn't want to make him, I didn't like seeing him like that.

* * *

 **A little filler chapter, so I could get something up today. So since Junior year is over, I have more time on my hands…at least for the Summer! :) So hopefully more updates to come.**

 **Don't forget to review.**


	3. Chapter 3

Nick's POV

It had been a few days since what happened at Liam's school and Nick thought it might be time to bring it up. "Liam, I rescheduled your appointment for this afternoon." Nick started to say and he could visibly see Liam tense up. "Now, I know what you're thinking, but—" But when Nick turned around, Liam wasn't there anymore.

"Liam?" Nick asked as he went around the house looking for him, he ran into Jeff.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well." Jeff said, knowing that Nick was talking to Liam about seeing the dentist today.

"Can you help me find him?" Nick asked and Jeff nodded.

"Liam!" Both Nick and Jeff called, but there was no answer. The kid didn't want to come and talk about this. He certainly wasn't going to come out and risk his fathers getting him to go to the place he was dreading.

They eventually found him upstairs in his bedroom, under his bed. "I found him, Nick!" Jeff called and Nick came rushing into his bed room and got down so he could see his son.

"Hey, Liam, can you come out of there?" Nick asked as sweetly as he could. Liam shook his head, there was no way he was coming out. "Liam, you need to come out."

"No!" Liam responded.

"Liam, I will give you to the count of 5 and if you don't come out, I will come and get you and you do _not_ want me to do that!" I warned him and then started to counting, but I didn't get to count to 2 before Liam started crying.

"Please don't make me go! I don't wanna go!" Liam cried. "They're…going…to…hurt…me!" He climbed out, but continued to cry. I looked to Jeff and it just broke my heart to see him like this. I wrapped my arms around him. "Don't make me go, daddy!" That was when Jeff started to rub his back.

"Shh, shh, it's okay." Jeff coaxed, but Liam continued to cry.

"It's okay, you're okay." I coaxed. "Okay, I won't take you—you don't have to go today, okay? You're okay, I won't take you. It's okay, please don't cry." I hugged him tightly as he continued to cry, but it stopped a little. After a few minutes he stopped and I still held him; I really wish there was something I could do. I hated seeing him so scared and upset.

* * *

"What are we going to do, Jeff? He needs to get a check-up, but I can't stand seeing him so scared and I certainly can't bring him in when he's like that—I just don't know what to do." Nick really needed an idea and really hoped he could help.

"I wish we could just show him there's nothing to be afraid of, but I don't know if we'd be able to get him in the office." Jeff said. "Why don't you just take him to your office? He might be more willing if it was you and not some dentist guy he barely knows."

"I don't think it would make a difference. I mean, of course I considered it. I was going to bring it up today, that he could go to my office and I could do it, but I don't think it's going to change things. He is still terrified to go and I don't think right now, who he goes to is the issue." I said. "I am really pissed at that kid from his class, but honestly, I can't blame him in reality because he's a kid and I don't think he meant any harm."

"Nick, they're eight remember. I'm sure the kids were just playing and then that kid did it as a joke because he's the dentist's son. I doubt he meant for any of this." Jeff said, he was definitely right there.

"I just want to help Liam."

"Hey, what about that thing you do with your scared patients?" Jeff suggested. "You have someone else go first to show them it's not too bad."

"I'd love to, but I don't Liam is going to go anywhere near an office." I pointed out, but I did like Jeff's idea.

"You don't have to—bring the office to them." Wait what? How was I going to do? "You know, maybe have something set up at his school—it could be for educational purposes as well as helping Liam." I smiled, that might actually work. I then kissed Jeff.

"You are the best." I told him and then went to make a couple of phone calls.

* * *

It was Monday and it was all set up for today. I didn't tell Liam so he wouldn't try to get out of going to school. I just really hoped this worked.

I got there around 9 to set up, we would start this at eleven, so I had a little bit of time.

It was eventually time, and I heard the sound of Liam's teacher's voice and I pulled out a stool to sit on so I could talk to the kids first.

"Class this is Dr. Nick Duval-Sterling." The teacher told them. "He's also Liam's father and he is going to talk about what he does. The floor is all yours."

"Well as she said, I'm Liam's dad…" I said and smiled at him, but he seemed uncomfortable. I should have guessed. "…anyways, I'm a dentist and well, who knows what we do?" This one girl raised her hand.

"You fix teeth, right?" The girl said and I nodded.

"Right." I replied. "Now let me ask, how many of you actually really like going to see the dentist?" I asked and…nobody raised their hands. I looked at Liam, who was looking down at his feet. "I see, I understand that it's probably not the most fun place in the world. And some of you may even be a little scared about going to see the dentist, but it's not that bad. There's nothing really to be afraid."

"That's what they all say!" I heard a boy say, I couldn't figure it out who said it, so I ignored it.

"Now, I could talk to you about my job and tell you what it's like and what happens and such, but I think it'd be more effective to show you." I said and looked at Liam and that was when he looked up at me. "Anybody want to volunteer?"

Nobody raised their hands. They just looked around and then I looked to Liam, who also looked around and I think he was trying to get out of my view so I wouldn't pick him if nobody stepped up.

"Why don't you do it Liam? Unless you're scared." I heard one boy said to him. I can't help but wonder if that's the boy that scared him in the first place.

"Yeah!" Another boy chimed in. "What's wrong Liam? Are you scared?" He teased and I had to stop the urge to go over there and handle things my way; I couldn't do that.

"I'll do it!" I heard another boy finally say and I looked over and the boys looked at him in surprise. He then walked over and I saw it was Liam's friend Charlie and I smiled at him; I think he did that to make those boys be quiet. "Hi Mr. Duval."

I helped him onto the chair and he looked out as all his classmates were watching. "Hi Charlie, how are you feeling?" I asked, now I was going to treat this as if Charlie was one of my actual patients.

"Okay, I guess." Charlie answered.

"That's good, are you a little nervous?" I asked, and he nodded. "Well don't worry, I promise this will be a good experience for you." Charlie smiled and then we both looked out and I could see Liam looked interest; probably because his friend was up here.

"What I am going to do is have a little look at your teeth, alright?" I asked and he nodded. I then picked up my mirror tool. "Can you open wide for me? This won't hurt a bit." Charlie opened his mouth and looked around a bit and everything looked great in there. "Everything looks great, Charlie. Now how was that?"

"It was good, I guess. Easy." Charlie replied and hoped off the chair and went over to where Liam was standing.

Liam's POV

I can't believe Charlie just did that. "Why did you do that?" I asked him once he came back over.

"To make Alex and that other guy leave you alone. Besides, it didn't look like anyone else had the guts to do it." Charlie replied.

"Aren't you going to drill his teeth?" I heard someone else ask and I felt my stomach start to hurt.

"Okay, I'm going to talk to you guys about that—a lot of times in my office, I see kids that are afraid of me using that because an older sibling or someone from school tells them that I will use it and it'll hurt a lot to scare them. But I'm not an evil monster that is going to do it for no reason. I only use that if I need it to fix a tooth."

"Does it hurt when you do use it?" I heard someone ask.

"Not at all, I make sure of that." He told them. If he was trying to make me feel a little bit better about me going to an appointment, it wasn't really working.

"Would anyone else like to come up here to see that this isn't so bad?" He asked and I felt like hiding again.

"I think Liam should go." Someone said. No, please!

"Yeah, it's his dad."

"Liam, you go. Unless you're scared."

"Forget it, Liam won't do it, he's a wimp—" Alex commented. Please someone make them stop.

"If you think it's so easy, why don't you come up here and be an example." My dad said and I grinned a bit.

"Uhh, I'm good." He said—oh my god. Was he scared too?

"No, come on, it'll be easy." My dad encouraged.

"I'm okay."

"Are you scared, Alex?" I asked and he glared at me.

"No!"

"Then go head." I said and Alex gulped and then finally got up there. This was definitely going to be interesting. He sat in the chair and tried not to look scared; he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"So what's your name?" My dad asked him.

"A-Alex." He told him.

"Well Alex, all you have to do is sit back and relax." My dad said. "Nothing to it."

"O-Okay." He said and laid down. I can't believe that Alex—he got me freaked out over this and made me feel—like that and he is terrified. I can't believe this.

"Open up for me." My dad asked and it took a good ten seconds, but Alex finally did and when he did and my started looking in there, he looked terrified—almost like he was going to cry. A few minutes later he was done and my dad let him go; he practically ran away as quickly as he could.

"I told you, Liam. Never listen to what Alex has to say." Charlie commented.

"I know." I replied; at least I do now.

* * *

Nick's POV

After it was over and the kids and the teacher had left, Liam stayed behind. "Hey buddy." I said and he ran up and hugged me. "Hey…"

"Did you do this so I would—"

"Yes, I did. This is so you could see that it isn't as bad as you think it's going to be." I told him.

"I can't believe what happened with Alex." Liam said.

"I had a feeling—I had seen that kind of thing before. And I think Charlie and I made sure that those boys left you alone." I said and he grinned; I guess he couldn't believe Charlie did what he did. "You have a really good friend there."

"Yeah I do."

"Liam, do you think you're ready to go to your appointment now?" I asked him and he frowned, he was still a little scared.

"I don't want to. He could hurt me." Liam said. "I'm sorry, but I'm still scared."

"It's okay to be scared." I told him. "But I know a very good dentist that I know would never hurt you."

"Who?" Liam asked and I smiled.

"Dr. Duval-Sterling." I said and Liam grinned a bit. "Do you think you can give him a chance?" Liam hugged me and I took that as a yes.

* * *

 **I hope this was good. So this idea just kind of came to me and I wasn't sure if I should use it, but then I was like…'what the hell?' and so I used it. I hope you guys liked it.**

 **Don't forget to review.**


	4. Chapter 4

Liam's POV

My dad was driving me to his office. Even though he was my dad, I was still scared. I know I shouldn't be, but I am. Eventually we got there and he parked the car and came around to my side. "Want me to carry you in?" He asked me and I nodded. I got out and he picked me up and as we walked in, I rested my head on his shoulders and closed my eyes. I know I was a little old for this, but I'm scared and this makes me feel a little bit better.

We get to the room and I squeeze my eyes closed, tighter. "Liam, I'm going to put you in the chair." He said and I grabbed onto his shirt. I didn't want him to put me down. I was safe up here. "Hey, it's okay. It's me, remember?" He said and then put me in the chair.

I took a deep breath as he went over and washed his hands. He then sat down on the stool and put on a pair of gloves. I looked away, I am scared. I felt him put a bib on me and looked up, if it wasn't clear, my face showed that I was scared. He smiled at me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"I promise you, there is nothing to be worried about." My dad told me.

"W-What if I have a—" I couldn't even say the word. "And you have to use the—" I could say that word either.

"I would fix it for you and it would be as painless for you as it is for all of my patients." He said and I grinned, but I was still scared. "What if I check for any problems first?" He asked and I guess it could get the part I dreaded; that is if I don't have any problems.

He moved the chair and then turned on the light. "Open wide for me, Liam." My dad told me. I sighed and slowly opened my mouth. "Good boy." I heard him say. He looked for a couple of minutes and then put the tools down.

"So how did it look?" I asked, nervously.

"It looked fine. No cavities, no problems at all." He told me and I grinned.

"Really?"

"Yes, they look great." He said and I felt a lot better now. "See, nothing to worry about." I felt a little weird now about being scared. "Hey…I know that look. It's okay to be scared and if in the future, you're scared, let me know and I can have daddy hold your hand."

"Aren't I a little old for this?" I asked.

"Not at all, I have teenagers and adults come in and they're a little nervous and they have someone's hand to hold. It's nothing to be ashamed of. If you're scared, it really helps." He told me, okay, that made me feel a lot better. "You think you're ready to finish the rest of this? I'm just going to clean your teeth."

"Okay." I said, I wasn't scared anymore.

"Would you like to listen to some music? I have headphones." He told me and took out his iPod and a big pair of headphones. "I keep an extra set of headphones in case any of patients need them. Listening to music helps them relax a little."

I nodded and took his iPod and headphones and put them on. I picked something and laid back, closed my eyes, and opened my mouth. I went through about 5 songs before he took them away and told me I was done. "Wasn't too bad, right?" He asked me and I shook my head. "You handled this better than Alex." He said with a wink.

"I am still having trouble believing it." I said, I wouldn't hold it against me. But at least he couldn't scare me anymore.

"He had a couple of cavities." My dad said, oh my god, was this really happening? "I wasn't going to say anything there, the kid was already embarrassed enough." I guess that's true, even though he is mean and I don't like him, I wouldn't have liked that to happen to him.

"I might give his mom a call." My dad said with a wink and I laughed a little. "Anyways, how about we grab a pizza for dinner. And we'll tell daddy how brave you were."

"I love you dad."

"I love you too, Liam."

* * *

 **Final chapter: This is what I came up with, I hope you enjoyed it :) Anyways, thanks for this little series! You ever have an idea with using Liam, let me know and I might write something in As Long As You're There ;)**

 **Don't forget to review.**


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